Estonian MP: COSAC meeting focuses on security, Russia's hybrid war against free world

TALLINN - Members of the Riigikogu European Union affairs committee are attending a plenary meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) in Poland on Monday and Tuesday to discuss topics of defense, as well as resilience to cyberattacks and the spreading of misinformation.

The main message of the chairman of the EU affairs committee, Peeter Tali, to his colleagues in other national parliaments is that Russia is waging a non-kinetic war against the free world.

"The Kremlin is using cyberattacks, information operations, and hostile influencing activities to rupture the unity that is based on EU values, and to break our will. The European Union must be ready to respond to several crises at once and prevent these. This is why we need to develop the digital and cyber capabilities of our people and regularly drill the necessary activities," Tali said.

On Monday, the participants were set to discuss the priorities of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union, the next long-term budget in light of the challenges lying ahead of the EU, as well as the working plans of the European Commission and Parliament, and the EU strategic action plan in the new period. On Tuesday, the debates will focus on the EU enlargement policy and the need for concentrated efforts by the member states to promote cyber security and combat misinformation.

Before the plenary sitting, on Sunday, the delegation met with Estonia's ambassador to Poland, Miko Haljas.

In May, the chairs of the EU affairs committees of the national parliaments of the member states around the Baltic Sea met in Latvia to prepare for the COSAC meeting.

The Riigikogu delegation at the COSAC plenary in Warsaw is made up of the chairman of the EU affairs committee, Peeter Tali, deputy chairman Vladimir Arhipov, and member of the committee Kristo Enn Vaga.

COSAC is a cooperation format that brings together the EU affairs committees of the national parliaments of the 27 EU member states.